Award for Szczesny & praise for Fabianski

The Premier League have confirmed that Wojciech Szczesny and Petr Cech will share the 2013/14 Golden Glove award after finishing level on 16 clean sheets each this season.

Szczesny missed only one game all season, the weekend’s trip to Norwich, leading to suggestions Arsene Wenger had cost the Pole the accolade given the Chelsea keeper’s better games to clean sheet ratio.

In total Arsenal conceded 41 goals, the fourth best record in the division, with 20 of those conceded in the away games at Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and Everton. Put in context, the fewest goals Arsenal have ever conceded in a season is 17 when the club were runners-up to Manchester United in 1998/99.

It’s not that bad mind, we twice conceded 86 goals in a season in 1926/27 and 1927/28.

Arsenal fans are waiting with baited breath to see if Szczesny’s impressive league form has earned him a place in the FA Cup final ahead of deputy Lukasz Fabianski. The elder of the two Poles has thus far started all five of the Gunners games on the way to Wembley and earned hero status for his shootout exploits in the semi-final.

Speaking to Arsenal Player about Fabianski’s contribution, centre-back Laurent Koscielny focused on the 29-year-old’s professionalism.

“Lukasz is a very good goalkeeper. He’s a big professional and he’s the first in training to prepare. He tries to improve himself in training and during the game if he’s on the bench you feel he’s concentrating with the team.

“He is very good off his line, like Wojciech, and has good feet which is very important for modern football now. He reads the game well when he needs to get to the ball in front of the striker.

“He plays the FA Cup – a little like Iker Casillas at [Real] Madrid, who plays in just the cups. But he’s done the job well, every time when you call on Lukasz to play he has done the job so it’s very important to have two goalkeepers at this level.

“He saved our team in the semi-final, he was the hero for Arsenal so I’m happy for him because he’s a nice man and he works hard for the team.”

108 COMMENTS

Only if he signs on… Far more important for Chezza to get a taste of winning things seeing as he is commited long term.
Feel the same about Sagna… Fantastic servant however would rather Jenko get the opportunity & experience over a player that willingly could end up at Shitty or Chelski. In any case, letting Fabianski & Sagna run down their contracts reeks of incompetence by the club.

I know people say we should play our best side but doesn’t Fanianski deserve it for the penalty saves alone in the semi finals. I think IF he is leaving in the summer then why not let him leave a hero whereas Szcz will be staying and can make a name for himself by helping us win future trophies.

Exactly. A lot of people say that it’s better if we play Szczesny cause Fabianski is leaving anyway.

Which of course is true if you look at it completely from a football club perspective. Fabianski playing will be of no advantage to us at all, since Woj is the keeper that will stay and him playing will benefit us more.

However, I compeltely disagree since we aren’t just a football club, we’re ARSENAL. Fabianski’s gotten us through to the finals and deserves the spot irrelevant of if we’ll benefit from it in the long run, one of the reasons I love this club is its class, no need to throw away the non-football good stuff about this club.

Bollox – We are a football club and exist to win things not make players that aren’t good enough feel good about themselves. We should have our best ‘committed to the cause’ 11 out there especially seeing as this is our biggest game of the season. There is a reason he’s called Flappyhandski and can’t even get ahead of Chezza for the Polish national team.

One of the biggest things you’re not taking into consideration is that Fabianski at this moment is still an Arsenal player.

He might be leaving (and that too isn’t for money or trophies it’s to get playing time which he deserves), but at the time of the FA cup final he will be an Arsenal player that got us through to the finals, I’m sorry but I simply cannot agree to the fact that he should be out.

Yes – Fabianski hasn’t been as good and will never be as good as Chezza and should not start the cup final for sentimental reasons. Bollox to giving him the experience to take to another club over the clearly better Chezza.
If he was as good or better than Chezza, he would have played a lot more for both Arsenal and Poland.

I love wenger, But he should be making decisions to benefit Arsenal football club, and not Individuals who are about to leave. Szczesny gets benched against norwich and doesn’t get the chance to win his golden glove outright? and on top of that, doesn’t start the cup final. When he is clearly our number 1(37 starts in the EPL says it al). That would be a disgrace. Imagine how he will feel when he comes back next season.

bull shit. There is no huge difference in ability, the difference is mainly down to age, i.e how much time Fabianski is likely to be useful for compared to Wojciech in addition to contract length, what Szczesny does have is greater POTENTIAL because hes at this ability at a younger age. in terms of match performance i doubt we’d notice a difference.

@ WindyCityArse
Words are wind, and your wind apparently smells bad. I disagree with you about Fabi vs Scsz, but what really bugs me is your cliched, moronic assertion that “We are a football club and exist to win things.”

Football clubs exist to play football. Winning things is the goal, but not the reason for existence.

@Jo
Chill dude… Assertion?
Didn’t mean to offend sensitive olfactory senses and be a ‘bug’…. Should have said ‘we are a football club and COMPETE to win things…..’ – my bad!
Moving on – i am still completely, moronically asserting that Chezza should start ahead of Fabs.

Blogger said that it didn’t matter if Scnzny won the Golden glove or not. All that matters is that he keept the clean sheets.
I’ll just ask a question. If your top striker needs just one goal in 1 game to claim the golden boot.
Would you rest him for that game?
I’m not sure.

I think the boss is right in favoring (apparently) Szcz to Fab for the FA cup final. I would rather see someone who will be part of the team go through the motions of a final and come out with a trophy winning experience, rather than giving a parting gift to a player who is packing his bags. I know it’s not kind and I salute him for his semifinal heroics but the team comes first.

By giving Fabianski a run out on the last day (dead rubber) and denying Szcz the chance to take the golden glove outright, I interpreted it as the younger Pole getting the nod for the FA Cup final. I do not believe it is a case of match practice. Fabianski was thrusted into the cup games without any game time before.

Kos also said he hoped Fabi would play. It would be a shallow medal for Scz, having not played any other rounds. The biggest chance of losing is going down to 10 men and I know who poses the biggest risk in that regard (Kos aside).

Thanks fab you played well in the cup games wenger not bothered abt the golden glove for schez but he shared it with Cech not sure if they get a glove each or what but for me winning the FA cup is play your best team available, fab is off so dont give him the rite to play in the final schez for me he is the future he needs to feel the winning mentality

If we stop being shite against the strong teams , we’d be in. But till that gung ho shite goes , its going to be the same every year, taking into consideration our expected casualty list to injuries.
Hate how we gave up during the big matches.

I’d choose Fab anytime over Szc. This guys been through alot with the Arse, coming back only stronger, Im sure being 2nd to Alumunia didnt help.
A comment I read here sums up Szc for me, he’s good when the team is playing well, and crap when we’re not. If he shuts up once in awhile, it would help as well.

Cant help but think from Kos comments that the defence would be prefer Fab.

I think some people forget that we need to win the game first before lifting the trophy, don’t take anything for granted because it’s two teams who wants to win the competition badly, it’s a very nice and traditional cup and absolutely everything can happend. No point in talking like we already have won it, because there is one tough game left to lift the trophy. Let’s back our team and hopefully we will win!

Bazza said “he is the future, he needs to feel that winning mentality”.

Not singling you out mate, others have made the same point, but what if we didn’t win? Surely, coupled with Birmingham a few years back, that would effect Szcz’s confidence for next season.
I’d play Fab, just cos he’s played all the previous rounds and his pen saves got us to the final. As someone above said, Szcz is gonna have plenty of opportunities to win stuff in the future (we all hope).

If that were to happen and it affected him next season, It would just mean that he doesn’t have the mental strength to cut it at Arsenal and we need a new goalkeeper if we want to win stuff. Might as well know sooner rather than later.

It’s possible that I’m being a total mug but if Wojciech only missed one game but Cech missed a few because of his injuries (Schwarzer has played in at least two Prem games, if I’m not mistaken) then how does Cech have a better game ratio?

A lot of people say it’s only fair to let Fabianski start but I disagree.

I think SZCZ should start for a few reasons:

1) SZCZ has better distribution to Sagna and Giroud(which seems to be our go-to plan whenever the keeper kicks).

2) SZCZ is ALSO a penalty specialist, just ask Brentford, the team he spent time on loan at.

3) Fabianski will definitely be leaving the club at the end of the season. In terms of development, we gain nothing by playing him. Playing him would be making a decision with your heart rather than your mind.

4) SZCZ, due to his height, is much better at claiming corners or crosses than Fabianski. This has been Lukasz’ achilles’ heel over the years.

5) SZCZ is quicker off his line. Fabianski is good but SZCZ and the back four have clearly worked very hard at this. Sometimes he makes mistakes but that’s the risk you take. Even in the FA Cup this season, how many times have you seen our defenders let the ball run behind them thinking that Fabianski would come out only for him to not do so? It forces them to quickly track back and block the striker so the ball can roll into the keepers’ arms. This happens quite often between Fabianski and Sagna and happens because the players aren’t playing together regularly, so communication isn’t as good.

TL;DR:

Fabianski is a good keeper but think with your head not your heart. It’s a cup final, we play our best goalkeeper. And Szczesny is our best goalkeeper.

I disagree with you on almost everything you said except the part about Fab leaving. Fab don’t rush which allows the defender to recover no goals. Szcz rushes and he and defenders collide leaving lose ball resulting in goal by the open striker. Mistakes usually happens when Szcz rushes out since defender don’t come back thinking he has it under control. Fab staying his line forces defenders to come back and work. Fab rushes out when he has to like he did on sunday against Norwich to make that big save. Fab is a better distributor. Szcz can’t kick to save his life.

Playing Fabianski in the Final is not just simply a decision by the heart. Not at all. It will be a decision by the head.
Fab is leaving us, yes, but he will be doubly motivated to end his time with the Gunners on a high. Believe me, if he plays his performance will reflect that attitude. On the other hand, playing Sczcesny would not be a very smart move. At the back of his mind would be some thoughts on his mistake in an another Cup final. Also, how motivated can he be knowing that eventho he didnt in anyway get the team to the Final is selected to play in it.
Last point, the 20 over goals we conceded versus the Big Guns, Sczc was in goal & his performance on those days left much to be desired.
If you ask me at this stage who between thw two is better…I would choose over the other. To me they are of equal standards!!

Goonerestgooner, Sheffield united, really?thought it was southampton in the final? I remember the save vividly, last minute and the ball is behind Seaman and he leans back and scoops it away…wins us the match.
Bloggs? Stillman? Can anybody confirm this…

I just want to stress that no matter who plays in the final…we have to support the entire team. This is THE ARSENAL, for anyone who is at Wembley. I am not lucky enough to be there but everyone who is have to sing until their throats are sore.

Fabianski should be in goal again for the final, as he had been for the entire cup run. Dumping him now seems to me unfair verging on mean, and for very very little arguable improvement in the chances of us keeping it tight at the back.

I think I’d rather Fabby start. I’m still haunted by Birmingham and given Szczesny’s tendancy to try and dribble past attackers I’d rather some of fabianski’s concentration. I’d wager there might be little for the keeper to do in the game and I’d rather whoever plays be switched on just in case.